Hacking and Wheezing and Coughing Oh My!

I’m sitting here coughing like a bunch of teenage boys getting their first sports physical.
A cold that began prior to our vacation and which I thought was finally going away has returned with a vengeance. Linda is sick too only her affliction presents itself with sneezing, watery eyes, a runny nose and a voice that sounds like Lucille Balls’ did in her later years.I’m also sneezing..sometimes double sneezes which is a sure sign that something’s not right because I’m a single sneezer. Linda, on the other hand, never gets a gesundheit from me after just one sneeze because she’s always good for two or more and I don’t have time to waste blessing her after every one.
I have the kind of cold that manufactures tiny droplets of feathery phlegm which lodges halfway down the windpipe causing a tickling sensation to which my body instinctively and uncontrollably begins hacking to bring it up. The coughing gets so intense at times that my ribs ache. When the source of the agitation finally does come free it is quickly replaced by another starting the whole annoying process all over.
It was particularly difficult and uncomfortable Monday morning at the dentist’s office where I spent two hours in the chair having some much needed work done. For most of the time my compulsion to cough was held in check. A good thing too because my nose was covered with the nitrous gas hose blowing full blast and my mouth was jacked open and a rubber dam put in place while the doctor drilled and drilled away at a defective molar. Somehow between being high on the gas and listening to Fox sports on the headsets, my attention was diverted away from the desire to free the phlegm building up in my esophagus. But towards the end, I could hold it no more and began to cough..or try to cough. “Hang on Doug..we’re just about done,” Dr. Graber said..seeing that I was turning a funny shade of crimson.
Well, I survived and have six more weeks to shake this consarned cold before returning to the dentist’s office for round two.
On another topic..we got some great news while we were up in Canada. Our grandson, Michael Hout..a junior at Washington High..was selected to be on the American Legion East baseball team! Being chosen to play on either of the two Legion teams in Sioux Falls is as good as it gets for a boy who loves baseball and, believe me, few love that game more..or are better at playing it than Michael Douglas. (I lobbied hard to have him named after me. His parents relented..but just for the middle name.)
Mike is a pretty quiet kid who is a good student and very good at other sports but baseball is his passion..something we’ve known since attending his first T-Ball game. He structures his life and exercise regimen toward making himself a better player..especially when its his turn in the pitching rotation.Grandson Michael on the mound. In one of the games I saw, he struck out 9 and pitched a shutout.
In two years playing high school ball and on the VFW East team, Mike has developed into a terrific southpaw pitcher who, while he may not be overpowering with speed, can confuse and frustrate hitters with his stuff and sucker many of them into swinging and missing at his low and away pitches which he throws with regularity and are nearly impossible to hit.Winding up for the low and away curve ball that batters reach for but can’t find.His prowess on the mound is what caught the eye of Legion East coaches which means, I suppose, he won’t be playing other positions as much next year and we won’t get to see him demonstrate his skills at the plate. But he’s fine with that and thrilled for the chance to move up another rung on the baseball ladder. He’s already eyeing colleges known for their baseball programs and then, who knows? The Twins could always use a good left hander with a killer curve ball.